Blu-rays of the Week
Big Bad Wolves
(Magnet)
That this gripping Israeli
thriller was named best movie of 2013 by Quentin Tarantino gave me pause, since
I don’t share his taste for trashy flicks: but directors Aharon Keshales and
Navot Papushado’s shocking revenge drama is riveting throughout—at least until
an ending that reeks of desperation. Showing how ordinary people can do
horrible things—like kidnaping and torturing a man suspected of brutally
murdering children—the directors show off endless style to spare. The Blu-ray
image looks stellar; extras are making-of featurettes.
(Kino)
Director Jess Franco—never one to
shy away from controversy—made his own Satanic nuns/witches entry in 1973, a
couple of years after Ken Russell’s own blatantly pornographic Inquisition
horror flick, The Devils. In Franco’s
version, nubile young nuns hike up their outfits and writhe around in their
beds, often with political and religious leaders for hypocritical shenanigans.
Although extremely risible, Franco’s belief in his film’s seriousness keeps it
watchable; a few sexy actresses also help his cause. The Blu-ray image looks
good; extras include a Franco interview and deleted footage.
Gimme Shelter
(Lionsgate)
Despite Vanessa Hudgens giving
her all as a runaway teen trying to improve life for herself and her unborn
baby, this crassly manipulative drama based on a true story is directed with a
sledgehammer by Ronald Krauss, who sees spiritual uplift where others see
dramatic clichés. A frightening turn by Rosario Dawson as her drugged-up mother
and an inspirational appearance by James Earl Jones as a good reverend help
those not in thrall to the message keep watching. The Blu-ray image looks excellent;
extras include deleted scenes with commentary and making-of featurette.
(Cohen Media)
Claude Chabrol’s two feature
films starring his favorite detective—Chicken
with Vinegar (1985) and the eponymously titled Inspector Lavardin (1986)—are impeccably crafted, naturally, yet
are otherwise small-scale murder mysteries long on atmosphere but short on wit.
Jean Poiret’s inspector seems more at home in the two Chabrol-helmed TV
mysteries included as bonuses—The Black Snail
(1988) and Danger Lies in the Words
(1989)—which are more entertaining than the features. The movies look good if
soft on Blu-ray; extras on the features are audio commentaries.
Mr. Selfridge—Complete Season 2
(PBS)
The second season of this
absorbing series about how American Harry Selfridge built London’s biggest
department store at the turn of the last century is another superior soap
opera, its plot threads showing characters like Jeremy Piven’s self-absorbed Selfridge
and a glamorous Frances O’Connor as his wife in their overlapping professional
and personal lives. Especially for those who can’t wait for their next Downton Abbey fix, this is an excellent
(and highly original) substitute. The hi-def transfer looks fine; extras
include a behind the scenes featurette and deleted scenes.
Il Sorpasso
(Criterion)
The English title, The Easy Life, perfectly encapsulates Dino
Risi’s brilliantly ironic comedy that careers into tragedy in its final moments,
as playboy Vittorio Gassman and naïve student Jean-Louis Trintignant (both
never better) aimlessly root around Tuscan and Roman roads one weekend. Risi, an
uneven director, made this singular masterpiece and decent films like Scent of a Woman (not the awful Pacino
remake); Criterion’s release marries a typically splendid hi-def transfer with
a plethora of extras like interviews with Risi, Trintignant and Gassman,
documentary excerpts and a 2006 doc about Risi, A Beautiful Vacation.
Super Skyscrapers
(PBS)
This fascinating mini-series, which
takes the measure of 21st century building, highlights a quartet of
new skyscrapers that defy the usual blueprint of finding ways to go higher,
literally and figuratively: Manhattan’s Freedom Tower and One57, London’s Leadenhall
Building and China’s Shanghai Tower. Covering the many months of planning and construction,
the four hour-long programs provide revealing close-ups of how technology
continues to revolutionize how we live and build in increasingly smaller spaces.
The hi-def transfer is superlative.
The Best Offer
(IFC)
In Giuseppe Tornatore’s latest melodrama,
Geoffrey Rush plays an unscrupulous auctioneer intrigued by a disturbed young
woman who wants to sell her family’s heirloom artworks while (literally) hiding
behind a family secret. Rush makes a properly flawed hero, Sylvia Hoeks is
beguilingly fresh as the mystery woman, but Tornatore never quite gets a handle
on this intense and at times overripe material.
(Kino)
This old-fashioned atmospheric horror
film remakes Rebecca (sort of) as the
master of the mansion discovers he may have a murderous doppelgänger out there killing
innocent townspeople. In the lead, John Turner does a decent job, as does the
rest of the cast; director Robert Hartford-Davis keeps the dramatic clichés to
a minimum while moving along to an obvious but satisfying finish. The lone
extra is a director interview.
(Lionsgate)
Chilean director-writer Sebastian
Lelio’s immersive character study about a middle-aged divorcee who enters into
a tentative relationship with an older man is centered on the remarkable Paulina
Garcia in the title role. By not making her a caricature or blatantly begging
for sympathy, Garcia makes Gloria a nuanced and immensely sympathetic character
whose sexuality is made plausible but remains in the context of this ordinary
woman who’s really quite extraordinary. Extras are onset footage set to the
film’s songs.
To Chris Marker An Unsent Letter
(Icarus Films)
Made by his frequent
collaborator, photographer Emiko Omori, this look back at the singular artistry
of meta-cinematic genius Chris Marker—creator of the classics La Jetee and Sans Soleil—has a personal, home-movie quality that will please
Marker’s admirers. The reminiscences—from fans, fellow artists and film
historians—show a healthy, even humorous appreciation for Marker the man as
well as the director, including a priceless anecdote about how the
publicity-shy Marker made his own image disappear from a photograph on public
display.
(IFC Midnight)
In Iain Softley’s unnerving
thriller, Tuppence Middleton and Alexandra Roach give ferocious portrayals of
friends torn apart by a fatal fire that one survives without any memory of what
happened—or does she? Softley lets the facts slowly but surely become uncovered,
but his leading actresses—and the always sublime Frances De La Tour and Kerry
Fox in small but pivotal roles—make this a tense nail-biter. Extras are
interviews.
CDs of the Week
John Adams—The Gospel According to the
Other Mary
(Deutsche Grammophon)
Composer John Adams’ “passion
oratorio” is certainly a heavy-duty, serious piece: but, much like Peter
Sellars’ diffuse libretto comprising bits from the Bible along with words from
personalities as diverse as 12th century mystic Hildegard von Bingen
and 20th century writer primo Levi, Adams’ patchy music moves from
soaring chorales to dully minimalist vocal lines. Despite the shaky dramatics, it’s
beautifully performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master
Chorale, a vocally strong cast led by Kelley O’Connor and Tamara Mumford, all
held together by conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
(Sony Classical)
Sure, she’s a charming, lovely,
talented Russian soprano, but please don’t call Olga Peretyatko a new Anna Netrebko
(not even Netrebko is Anna Netrebko any more): she has a vocal style all her
own, as she proves repeatedly on this buoyant collection of virtuoso arias and
songs from heavy hitters Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Gounod and Bizet. Peretyatko’s
creamy soprano sounds luminous on all 13 of this disc’s tracks, and conductor Enrique
Mazzola and the NDR Symphony Orchestra provide her with accompaniment as
sensitive and exacting as her singing.
No comments:
Post a Comment